Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings Fantasy Baseball – 4/15 & 4/16

Here are today’s daily SP Streamer rankings.

Every day of the 2023 baseball season, I’ll be looking at today and tomorrow’s slate of scheduled starting pitchers and ranking their matchups for your fantasy baseball streams.

There’s a lot that goes into this and you can hang out with me on Twitch.tv/pitcherlist to talk about the specific ranks as I make them every weekday morning from 10am – 12pm ET. If you have questions about these ranks, please ask during the morning Twitch AMA. Those are my office hours as I generally don’t answer comments on the site.

There are four tiers to these rankings with 12-teamers in mind:

Auto-Start – Just do it. Don’t overthink this, start the man. This includes “if I have them rostered, I’m starting them” pitchers.

Probably Start – I’m likely starting these arms, though I recognize there is more risk than we’d like there to be. Either it’s a tough matchup for a good-not-elite pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm. These pitchers have a 50% or greater chance of performing well in my view.

Questionable Start – Think of this tier as “I don’t want to start these pitchers in a vacuum, but you could do worse.” Streamers found in this tier are not pitchers I’m targeting and are only if you are in dire need of one. To play it safe with streaming, just start the Probably Start streamers.

Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it. Seriously, these pitchers have a very slim chance of success or sometimes none at all.

Obviously, there will be circumstances where pitchers should move between teams for your situation specifically and these new tiers should act as a little more help than the straight table from last year.

Please keep in mind that streaming is far from a perfect play. In fact, if they work out over half the time, I’d consider it a success. These matchup rankings & streamer picks are going to be wildly different than the actual results throughout the year, so please, have sympathy before the scathing comments and tweets. I’m only trying to help!

Make sure to read the notes if you’re wondering why I’m favoring certain pitchers over others – I won’t get to everyone and hopefully I answer what questions you will have.

There is a second table for tomorrow’s starting pitcher matchups as well, helping everyone get a jump on their nightly pickups. Please note that these matchups are subject to change, though, and there will be times when I have the incorrect pitcher going. I thank you for your future understanding.

Finally, there are my streaming picks of the day, and please keep in mind that I am forced to pick a streamer every day. Those highlighted in Green are in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. Those in Yellow in the third tier and should be okay if you’re searching for something on a given day, but I don’t recommend streaming unless you’re in need. Finally, those are Red are those I really don’t want to start (they are labeled as “Do Not Start”, after all) but have no other choice. Don’t stream these guys until you are truly desperate. A streaming pick is defined as “rostered in 20% or fewer leagues,” which really emphasizes the point that I’d be happy if over 50% of these worked. I could do the whole sub 30/40% rostered, but there’s no fun in that. You can use the rankings to realize who would be those picks, instead.

(Opener) – Outlines that a pitcher is being opened for that day & the pitcher listed will follow the opener.

As I do my rankings, I thought it would be helpful to showcase a table of how we’re ranking offenses:

I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it works as a general table that y’all should keep in mind.

Alright, let’s get to it.

 

This year, with our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.

To get access to PL Bot’s picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.

 

Nick’s 2023 Streamer Record: 10-6

My pick yesterday: Tyler Wells vs. CHW

PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 7-9

PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Eric Lauer vs. SDP

Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Where have all the aces gone? Freddy Peralta and George Kirby have arrived at the mixer and realized no one else was coming. Hey, how’s the slider coming along? Oh, it’s good man. It’s good.
• In the second tier, Anthony DeSclafani leads the way after two strong starts to kick off the season. The schedule is bliss moving forward starting with the Tigers and we’re all for that with his slider and fastball.

 

• The streaming pick of the day is ranked all the way up at #4 with Steven Matz facing the Tigers. But he has a 8.00+ ERA! Against the Braves + Coors. He’s good for a strikeout per inning, faces a terrible Pirates crew, and has a solid Win chance with his Cardinals support.
• There are a few other options to consider in this tier. Ryne Nelson has a lovely date with the Marlins, Seth Lugo has displayed Toby prowess with the Padres getting his back, and Graham Ashcraft has been able to keep the strikeouts afloat.

 

• There’s some contention in Hunter Brown against the Rangers and Tyler Mahle getting the Yankees, but in both cases, I think the ceiling outweighs the floor. Go for it.
• In the third tier, I imagine many of you want Bryce Elder to be in the second tier. I’m…okay with it. Elder’s stuff doesn’t demand success and the Royals offense isn’t as horrific as it seems. I’m fine starting him for those chasing a Win, but this isn’t the lock of a start it seems to be.

 

• Jon Gray scares me a bit with his four-seamer overperforming and his slider not looking like the elite offering of 2022 thus far. The results have been there, but this could be a scary floor against the Astros.
• We were thrilled to see Michael Kopech regain some velocity and not tip his pitches last time out, but we’ve also seen Kopech have flashes of brilliance before tumbling back down the mountain. Baltimore is displaying some of their Orioles magic once again and this is too risky for me to pursue.

 

• Don’t overlook Zach Plesac against the Nationals. Sure, his first start of the year was rough against the Athletics, but he’s since introduced his slider over 50% of the time and now gets to feast on the Nationals. This could return six frames of production.
• It feels like judgment day for Kris Bubic as he faces Atlanta…which seems a bit unfair given it’s Atlanta. We’ll be watching for the fastball velocity to flirt with 93 mph once again, while the changeup and breakers need to be earning strikes with ease. I’m not ready to crown Bubic as a must-add with his small two game sample and it’s dangerous to assume he’s already broken out.

 

• The bottom half of the tier isn’t pretty. I want to trust Nick Pivetta vs. LAA, but I’ve also been wanting to trust Pivetta for five years.
• Tyler Anderson hasn’t found the same changeup from last year, Carlos Carrasco struggled against the Brewers and Marlins with dwindling velocity, Jameson Taillon hasn’t found a rhythm with his breakers yet and now has to deal with the Dodgers, and Domingo Germán failed to record a strikeout in his last start. Rough.

 

• Y’all know I’ve wanted Matt Strahm to be a breakout starter for a long time, but it’s no fun pitching in cincy + his pitch count is awfully limited at the moment. there’s a chance he goes 75 pitches of production, but he’s not as electric as he used to be.
• The bottom tier starts with Yusei Kikuchi and Braxton Garrett. Kikuchi’s command has been rough (what else is new) while I don’t trust Garrett to succeed against solid offenses like the Diamondbacks, even with a decent slider on his side.

 

• The rest of the options are all kinds of ominous. Shintaro Fujinami is a textbook Cherry Bomb, we just saw Roansy Contreras have a nightmarish start and now has to deal with the strong Cardinals crew, Michael Grove can’t locate his heater and gets punished for it, and despite the winning ways of the Jays, Josh Fleming isn’t the one you want to hang your hat on.

 

• Updates: The Tigers are starting Michael Lorenzen today as he makes his first start off the IL (avoid this), while Matthew Boyd will start tomorrow instead.
• The sheet will say Calvin Faucher, but he’s just opening with Josh Fleming following.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Ahhhh, this is where the aces have been hiding. You can rank all of them however you want – I spent far too long trying to find some semblance of feeling right about the order – as long as you’re starting all of them in your leagues.
• Yes, that includes Reid Detmers who was originally in the second tier, but he felt a sure step above the other options, allowing him to squeak into the top tier at the bottom. His stuff is much better this year and the Red Sox aren’t the scariest of foes.

 

• Speaking of the second tier, there’s uncertainty with everyone in here. Alek Manoah has looked far from sharp to begin the year, Kyle Wright and Garrett Whitlock are each just one game removed from their IL stints, Grayson Rodriguez hasn’t clicked quite yet, and Andrew Heaney has to endure the Astros after fanning ten batters last game.
• When you have a Toby like Miles Mikolas, starts against the Pirates are what you dream of.

 

• The third tier is smaller than usual as I’m not quite ready to start believing in Mitch Keller on a regular basis, even if the Cardinals have been going through a “Coors hangover” this weekend. Give me one more strong outing and we’re good to go. For those wanting to jump ahead of this, there’s still time with his 21% rostership. If Keller soars again, expect that mark to rise massively with his next start hosting the Reds.
• The streaming pick of the day falls to Matthew Boyd as he goes against the Giants. I didn’t love what we saw last time out from Boyd – down a tick and only two slider whiffs – but he could bounce back against a middling offense on Sunday.

 

• The bottom tier has little to chase. There’s a chance JP Sears‘ new fastball and slider can silence the Mets, and maybe Drew Smyly’s dominant performance against the Mariners translates to success against the Dodgers (keep executing the BSB please!), but the risk far outweighs the ceiling in both cases.
• And sure, if you’re looking for a sneaky Win chance, Zack Greinke and Wade Miley have displayed the ability to be in good favor with the BABIP gods for 5+ frames. Good luck.

 

Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)